I noticed some red ribbon sticking out of my cats rear end....

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I noticed some red ribbon sticking out of my cat's rear end.... I tugged VERY gently once but it didn't budge. He's eating and acting fine... I am new to having cats so I'm not certain about what I should do.... Thanks!

My name is XXXXX XXXXX it will be my pleasure to help you and Cookie, today.

Don't tug anymore as this could cause internal injury.

If Cookie doesn't seem bothered by this and is not excessively licking his rear end and you said he's eating and acting normally, you have a couple of options. You can give him some hairball gel to add more lubrication to his stool and wait for a future bowel movement then, hopefully, the rest of the ribbon will come out in its entirety, or bring him to the vet to help get the ribbon out of his system. Hopefully, it is not causing an intestinal obstruction, especially if he's been defecating as usual, but the vet might do an x-ray to see exactly where the ribbon is located in the intestines, if it's bunched up or tangled and can't come out on it's own, or if it's one, not too long piece, which should come out naturally with his feces.

If it's causing an intestinal obstruction or the vet feels it will not move out on it's own, he may recommend surgery to remove it.

If Cookie likes to ingest non-food items (I know all cats love 'stringy' type things), be ultra-careful and don't leave anything around that he can access, so this doesn't happen again.

Thanks so much! I just remembered that I noticed another ribbon in his feces a few months ago--he's getting them off some pillows I bought at a craft show... When he does things like this I go from calling him "Cookie" to "Cookie Monster"! :)

"Cookie Monster!" lol Good name for him! Put those pillows away or keep the door to the room closed, where the pillows are located (like in a bedroom, etc.). Yes, cats just can't resist ribbons and sewing thread and string and fishing line (my cat once ingested some of THAT, but everything came out okay!).

He sounds like a cutie; just keep all things with ribbons out of his reach! : )

Hi! He still hadn't passed it the following day, so I took him to the vet. They had to put him under in order to get it out--it was more than 8 inches long! But he's fine now! Thanks again for the help!